What the Spurs and Magic said after the game

Here’s a sampling of post-game commentary from both locker rooms after San Antonio’s 106-97 victory over Orlando Monday night.

San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich

(On San Antonio’s defense on Dwight Howard)

“I thought they did a good job. He’s a big time player and one of the best in the league. He’s one of our top players and to stop him is impossibility, but I thought they did everything they could do to make him work hard for what he got. They did do a good job.”

(On the perimeter game in the fourth quarter)

“I think both teams did very well. Both teams for a stretch there, it was like a three-point contest and nobody was going to give in. That was pretty incredible. It was a heck of an NBA game. That’s got to be one of the better games of the season for a lot of reasons. They made those shots and we made the shots. Something like this is always a team effort. We had a period there where we tried to give it away with about four turnovers in a row and that was looking bleak at that point. I was proud of the guys for playing through that adversity because that’s what it’s all about. You’re going to have periods in the game where things don’t go well. I thought they kept their effort up; their energy; their communication and they hung in there and found a way. ”

(On Tony Parker)

“There are always things that all of us can do better…coaches and players…and we’ll see all that in film. But, again, Tony was very steady and did a wonderful job of making decisions for himself and for his teammates.”

(On the lift Matt Bonner gave the team off the bench)

“Matty spreads the floor with his shot, just the way Rashard Lewis spreads the floor for those guys. He made some shots that helped us. He worked the board; he played hard “D”; and again, he made Rashard work for it. It was anybody’s game and it went our way tonight down the stretch. We did a couple of good things. It was a nice win against a heck of a basketball team. They’re really something. You can see why they’ve had the success that they’ve had. ”

Spurs guard Tony Parker

(On the fast start)

“We’re very happy with our start and we’re very happy with tonight’s win. We just have to stay focused and keep improving. It was a tough game tonight. In the fourth quarter, I’m happy with the stops we made and everybody made some big shots to get the win.”

(On if it’s a little sweeter to win against a team like Orlando)

“It was good to win against a very good team. Now we have to stay focused and play the same way against Minnesota.”

(On the play of him and Manu Ginobili)

“We’ve been playing really well. It’s only the beginning of the season, we have to keep it going. It’s a long season.”

(On San Antonio’s barrage of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter)

“I had a couple opportunities lately against Utah and tonight. Matty’s (Bonner) been on fire, Richard (Jefferson) hit a big one, Manu’s (Ginobili) been great all season long. We’ve been shooting the ball well and the ball movement is good. Everybody’s taking good shots.”

(On if it feels like the 2005 Playoffs for Manu Ginobili and the 2007 Playoffs for Tony Parker)

“Yeah, we’ve been playing well and hopefully we can keep it going. Timmy’s (Duncan) taking a little bit of a backseat and we can save him for the playoffs, so that’s good.”

(On if the difference is the team being healthy)

“It definitely helps to be healthy. Personally, I felt great. I got my legs back and I’m sure Manu feels the same way.”

Spurs guard Manu Ginobili

(On if he feels the Spurs are the best team in the NBA)

“It’s too early to tell. What we know is that we’re winning games that last year we would have lost. We’re playing better down the stretch, we’re making the shots to win, and that always helps. We just have to stay humble, it’s too early. We’ve got a long way to go, but it’s great to start like this.”

(On the 3-pointers in the fourth quarter)

“It was huge. It was a very close game. Tony made one from the top, which is not his usual spot and then Richard made from the corner a very contested one. Then I made one and it was three in a row. When that happens with two or three minutes to go, you get a big chance to win.”

(On the last time him and Parker were both playing this well)

“I think it happened in the playoffs before. For a stretch like this, I’m not sure. In playoff stretches, we’ve done pretty well, but when we do it like that in regular season, I think it makes everybody better, so we’re happy about that.”

(On if health is the most important thing for Manu and Tony)

“Health is always important, but sometimes there are stretches that you play good and I’m almost positive that I’m not going to play like this for 82 games. The important thing would be that if I’m in a bad stretch and he’s (Tony Parker) in a bad stretch that it’s not in the same period. The good thing is that we’re both playing good at the same time and it’s helping the team.”

(On the biggest difference this year)

“We know each other a little bit better. DeJuan (Blair) has been with us a little bit more, George Hill, and Richard in his second year knows better what we expect from him and how the system works, he’s making shots. Matt Bonner is shooting 75% from three and we as a team shoot 67% like we did today, it makes things so much easier. I still believe that we have some margin defensively that we need to improve. We haven’t been the rock solid defensive team that we were a few years ago, so we’ve got a long way to go. As I’ve said before, we’ve got to stay humble.”

(On Matt Bonner)

“He’s making a lot of shots, that’s for sure. Since he came, he’s probably shooting close to 80%. Again, it’s not something that’s going to stay like this for 82 games because it’s just impossible, but at this point he’s been huge. He’s really helping Tony and me to attack the rim, get fouled, and find shooters. The defense has to worry about him. He went 7-for-7 in Utah and today 4-for-4. Those are plays that are very important to keep the defense concerned about him. That’s one of the reasons why Tony and me are being able to score so much.”

(On why this was a game the Spurs would have lost last year)

“Last year, we were losing all kinds of games, home and on the road. This year we are 5-for-5 on the road. The first five, six games were not against great times but now it’s improving. We beat Utah, we beat Phoenix and now Orlando at home, which is always a tough matchup because of the way they play. So I think now we’re playing pretty good and we’re feeling good about ourselves. But at the same time, the Lakers are the back-to-back champions and the Celtics are the Eastern Conference Champions so we have to respect them and we’re just looking at them trying to learn and be as good as them.”

Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy

(On the tough loss)

“Here’s what I said to our guys afterward; I thought it was a great basketball game, it went right down to the two-minute mark. We had MP’s (Michael Pietrus) wide open three in transition to go back ahead. I thought it was a great basketball game, number one. I think for us to be able to win a game like that against a very good team on the road, there is two things that I think have been regular problems for us that we have to get cured. One is the turnovers. We go into the first quarter with the lead and we start the fourth quarter with three straight turnovers and get them back in front, and then down the stretch we have two big wins with Jameer trying to penetrate into the lane and we lose the ball. There’s a seven-turnover difference in that game and it’s a close game right down to the wire. That’s a huge part, the turnovers plagued us. We’ve got to, if we want to win games like this, take care of the ball. The second thing is we have to be able to both close down the lane and close on shooters. We’re not doing that very well right now. They shot the ball very well, clearly. But our defense in that area against the best teams, where you have to keep the ball out of the paint and then close, has got to improve. From my standpoint, I thought we did a lot of good things tonight. I thought it was a great basketball game and we have to learn how to win those.”

(On closing out of the threes and the talent of the opposing team)

“Well those are the teams you’ve got to beat. If you want to go where we want to go, these are the teams you have to be able to beat, where you’ve got to do both. I’ve got to take the blame some on our close outs. I don’t think we’ve put enough time in drilling that area. At least not as much time as we have in the past, we’ve worked on some other things. I got to take responsibility for that. For the turnovers, we can just keep looking at them. I think our guy’s understand the turnovers are a problem, but they don’t understand that academically they are not taking the responsibility. If we are going to turn the ball over less, each guy has to turn the ball over less. We’re not taking the responsibility to take care of the ball. That we’re going to have to do a much better job of.”

(On the first three or four stops in a row)

“Again, I think the biggest difference to me was turning the ball over. As number one, it’s hard to get back and set your defense. Both teams were playing well offensively. There’s a free throw differential of eight, there’s a turnover differential of seven. They shot the ball more from three. They made three more than we did. But we shot the ball at there too. Both teams shot a good field goal percentage. To me the difference is 16 turnovers to seven. We didn’t execute, especially in the fourth quarter. I know there were three to start the quarter and two down the stretch. That’s at least five in the fourth. That’s not good enough on the road against a real good team. We’ve got to get better in that area. But with that said, I think we did some things better. I think we got back to rebounding the ball. I thought Dwight was absolutely tremendous. I thought Rashard played well again on the offensive side of the floor. I thought it was J.J.’s best game of the year. I thought MP was very good again, he’s been like that. I thought Chris was more aggressive offensively, so I thought there were some good things in that game. But we have to learn it’s not a one night thing. Those two areas of taking care of the ball and being able to close the paint and close out on shooters are areas where we’ve had trouble and we’ve got to get a lot better. Hopefully we can use this game as a learning experience and real motivation to try to improve in those areas.”

(On taking something away from the game)

“I do. I hope that our guys do, and really take it to heart. It’s a good group and they work extremely hard. I thought they played hard tonight. I think both teams played hard. I think they clearly executed better down the stretch. They took care of the ball better and they get a win.”

(On Orlando’s perimeter shooting)

“I thought J.J. played well. I thought he defended well. I thought it was his best game of the year. It was a real positive step. I thought he really played well in the first half before he got hurt. So he got hurt there, I think he’s going to be okay. Vince (Carter) got hurt, and after his best move of the game he moved the ball to the basket, he had to come out. I think in games like this, we are going to have to need him for more than fourteen minutes and be able to play. Again, we can take a lot from this. I think we are capable of playing better. I thought San Antonio was great and we just got to keep plugging away.

(On the severity of Vince Carter’s injury)

“It was his knee that they were looking at. No I don’t know, but it was his knee. I don’t have any word yet.”

(On practice tomorrow)

“We will not practice tomorrow. We will not get back till actually in the morning, so we will not practice tomorrow.”

Orlando guard Jaameer Nelson

(On Orlando’s overall performance)

“We played pretty good for 46 minutes. I have to do a better job getting us shots. They made some threes and when you don’t get a shot up without turning the ball over its tough with them continuing to score. We all have to do a better job of not turning the ball over, but I have to do a better job of putting us in a situation to score.”

(On if they come out feeling good about the team)

“Were losing, but it’s the NBA and we’ve got another big game coming up. We just got through losing to a good team. It’s no excuse, they did what they were supposed to do, and we didn’t.”

(On if Orlando learned something good about itself tonight)

“We showed a lot of toughness, we knew it was going to be tough, and that the crowd was going to be in the game and rooting for their team. Overall, we did a good job of playing through mistakes and just playing hard. We made some adjustments and just continued to play. Like I said, the ball just didn’t bounce our way”

Orlando forward Rashard Lewis

(On what mistakes the team made tonight)

“Towards the end of the game, we turned the ball over and that lead to them getting easy baskets. We just made our mistakes when we turned the ball over.”

(On if it’s frustrating to play 46 good minutes)

“At the end of the day you want to win and this is a good team, especially games like this. I think this is a statement game. It went down to the wire, but we weren’t able to pull it out. Sixteen turnovers against a good team wont get the job done. You have to be able to turn the ball over less times than that.”

(On what the team learned from the game)

“You most definitely learn from this game. You got to minimize the mistakes that you make when you’re playing against good teams.”